Most articles of furniture are constructed to have a lower support structure, which defines a support plane at its lower most point. The operative or working areas of the article of furniture are then oriented in a desired manner with respect to that support plane by the support structure. For example, a typical table has a surface to support objects, which is oriented parallel to the floor and supported by a plurality of legs perpendicular to the table surface. Thus, the support plane of this table is defined by the free ends of the legs. However, planar geometry dictates that only three operative support points define a plane. Thus, it is necessary that the table legs be sized with great care in order to ensure that all four free ends terminate in a common plane; otherwise, the table will be unstable. When this happens, the article does not have a single stable support plane but rather is subject to unwanted wobbling, tipping, or as in the case of machinery—vibrating. Even articles, which have only three support points, such as a three-legged table, that automatically define a stable support plane, can still have the problem that the working surface may not be in the desired orientation due to any error in the intended length of any support. It is also important to consider surfaces that are uneven. Even with the legs sized appropriately, the article may still rock.
Other articles that have rotating components, such as pumps, air-conditioners, fans, and the like, can vibrate if not properly leveled and stabilized. For example, an air-handling unit might include a fan. If the fan is not perfectly balanced, then any instability in the support of the air-handling unit on its support surface might allow the unit to vibrate. In some cases, this vibration can be sufficient to cause damage to the unit, and often times produce unwanted noise.
Another common scenario for unstable pieces of furniture occurs in the food service setting, especially in locations where restaurants often move around chairs and table to accommodate various number of guests on a given table. In situations where dining table settings get moved around on a daily basis, such as garden or side of the street establishments, it is very common to encounter different sized gaps that a single sized stabilizer will not be enough to fully stabilize the piece of the furniture with the uneven ground. Even if a table theoretically can be stabilized on a particular location, the stability might easily be lost if the table were moved to a different location because the host requires a larger seating for a party, or the tables are removed from the spot for cleaning purposes on both even and uneven surfaces.